Clover

Even the great Bobby Jones admitted that, if you find your golf ball nestled in clover, you are essentially in the lap of the golfing gods. Clover, according to Bobby, provides the ultimate lubricant between the clubface and the ball. And, lubrication is nice for your golf swing, but very bad for your clubface.

I find that I almost never hit a good shot from clover. Generally I hit some sort of knuckle ball from that nasty stuff. I like clover in my lawn. It attracts bees. The rabbits who live under one of my hedges seem to like it. It's all good. But if you have clover on your golf course, you have trouble. Simple as that.

Yesterday, on fifteen where there is plenty of clover in the rough, I found myself in a thick patch. Somehow, I saw that in this instance I could probably get my clubface on the back of the ball without the interference of too many clover leaves and tried to take advantage of the situation by going for the green. 

I managed to hit a, almost perfect, fade right at the pin. The ball finished just short of the green in the thick rough that has been allowed to grow almost right up to the fringe. I really felt lucky to escape the clover. From the thick rough I hit a nice pitch to about three feet. Then, I missed the damned putt.

If you have clover on your course, you really should be able to ask your superintendent to mark it ground under repair, so you can drop away from it. The song says, "Roll me over in the clover..." But, trust me, rolling the golf ball over in the clover likely won't help you at all. Like all other trouble you find yourself in on the golf course, I think the best bet when you find yourself in that sweet, soft clover is not to try to hit the perfect shot. Just get it safely out.

Clover is good. But it shouldn't be allowed to flourish on the golf course.